Interview With Congressman Ron Paul
Thursday 29 May 2008
by: William Rivers Pitt, t r u t h o u t | Interview
photo
Presidential Candidate Ron Paul (shown above) campaigning in New
Hamp****re, sat down with
Truthout's William Rivers Pitt.
(Photo: Cheryl Senter / Associated Press)
Despite what the mainstream news media choose to re****t, Senator John
McCain of Arizona is
not the last remaining Republican candidate for president today.
Congressman Ron Paul of Texas
never abandoned his run for the GOP nomination, and he fully intends to
present himself before
the Republican National Convention in September as a true conservative
alternative to McCain's
status-quo candidacy. In fact, according to a recent blog re****t published
by The Los Angeles
Times, Paul looks to do more than merely show up at the door.
"Largely under the radar of most people," re****ted the Times, "the
forces of Rep. Ron Paul
have been organizing across the country to stage an embarrassing public
revolt against Sen.
John McCain when Republicans gather for their national convention in
Minnesota at the beginning
of September. They hope to demonstrate their disagreements with McCain
vocally at the
convention through platform fights and an attempt to get Paul a prominent
speaking slot. Paul,
who's running unopposed in his home Texas district for an 11th House term,
still has some $5
million in war funds and has instructed his followers that their struggle
is not about a single
election, but a long-term revolution for control of the Republican Party."
Representative Paul has been an iconoclastic presence within the
Republican Party for
nearly thirty years, beginning his political career in opposition to
President Nixon's decision
to take America off the gold standard. He secured the Libertarian Party
nomination for
president in 1988, running against Vice President George H.W. Bush and
Governor Michael
Dukakis. Primarily motivated by economic issues and a strongly held
interpretation of the
Constitution, Paul has become more of a political maverick within his
party than John McCain
could ever hope to be.
In the time he has spent in the House of Representatives, Paul has
authored and sponsored
bills to repeal the War Powers Act, impose term limits on elected
officials, and abolish income
taxes. He submitted legislation banning abortion, not at the behest of the
Religious Right; his
years of work as an obstetrician were the foundation of his views on life
and conception.
Ron Paul even attempted to pass legislation requiring members of
Congress to read each
bill entirely before voting on it. This was inspired by Congress passing
the massive and
intrusive Patriot Act in 24 hours, before anyone reviewed its text. He has
been a staunch
opponent of the Iraq occupation from the beginning, and sponsored
legislation in 2003 seeking
to repeal the war authorization he had opposed months before.
In sum and substance, Representative Paul is a breed apart within the
confines of the
Republican Party. One may disagree with some of the positions he takes or
some of the votes he
has cast, but he is far removed from the calcified evangelical hypocrisy
that has come to
define the modern GOP. His is a mind at work, and those who follow him may
yet prevail in
rescuing the Republican Party from the stagnated failures of the last
three decades.
September's GOP convention could very well mark the beginning of some
interesting times for
what once was the party of Lincoln and TR. Events in the north country
come Fall will warrant
close scrutiny if Paul has a say in the matter.
http://www.truthout.org/article/interview-with-congressman-ron-paul
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